The Engine of The New New Zealand

Globetrotting Artist

Kelcy's roots are in the Horowhenua and he now lives in Palmerston North. But don't be deceived - his artworks are spreading around the world.

Kelcy did the Massey's Māori Visual Arts degree because he wanted to be an artist. But what he discovered helped him form his very identity.

As a person of Māori, but also Pakeha descent, Kelcy grew up in an urban environment, with no strong sense of where he fitted in culturally.

'Studying at Massey gave me a good sense of the making of New Zealand as a culture and where I fitted into that. That's given me a really solid, strong base to then go out to the world, look it in the eye, and say 'this is what I want to say'.'

It's no surprise then that much of Kelcy's work today deals with searching for identity. It's a global theme, and that's attracted the eye of a major world art patron.

Check out some of Kelcy's latest work.

Kelcy Taratoa

Master of Māori Visual Arts
Massey University 2005

Art Taking Its Place

Kelcy Taratoa says that growing interest in art in New Zealand and New Zealand artists is leading to huge international opportunities.

About Māori visual art

Traditionally, carving, tattooing, weaving and painting were the primary art forms in traditional Māori visual art. These were taught over generations.

As European settlers arrived, different tools enabled new ways of working, but much of the tradition remained unchanged.

In the 1970s, there was a renaissance of Māori art, with a surge of traditionally-trained artists who started to reinterpret Māori symbolism and techniques into a more modern form. Cliff Whiting and Para Matchitt were among those at the forefront of this movement.

Today there are varying interpretations of what defines Māori Visual Art. For many, there is an expectation that art created by Māori will include traditional Māori elements. At Massey’s School of Māori Visual Arts, while acknowledging and spending much time focusing and understanding the traditional, we encourage students to use that knowledge to form their own artistic expression, which does not necessarily directly include traditional symbolism.

How you can do it too

Do you have an eye for art and an interest in Māori culture? Is art one of your strongest subjects at school?

The Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts (BMVA) is unique to Massey University. It encompasses contemporary Māori art, Māori language, Māori culture and tikanga.

If you want to do the BMVA, you should have completed some study in design, photography, print-making, painting and/or sculpture at school.

As well as the pre-requisite correct university entrance qualifications, you’ll need to prepare a portfolio or work, and written a statement on why you want to join the programme. Based on this work, you’ll be potentially invited for an interview, and then, all going well, accepted!

It’s a four year degree, and you’ll have to work hard, you need all your creative juices to be flowing! But you’ll really enjoy it, and learn heaps about two and three-dimensional art and Māori tikanga. There’s heaps of practical work, where you get to create your own work, and show it at exhibitions and through community courses.

Your first step on graduating could be anything from a teacher, to an artist, to a gallery curator, to a designer.

Why Massey?

Massey offers New Zealand’s only Bachelor of M?ori Visual Arts (BMVA), and Masters in M?ori Visual Arts.

A four-year undergraduate degree, the BMVA is a really practical course.

You won’t just be sitting in a classroom listening to someone talk. You’ll get to work side-by-side with some of the key players in M?ori art today.

You’ll work under the tutelage of Professor Robert Jahnke, an established artist and mentor who has worked with New Zealand artists such as Shane Cotton and Rangi Kipa.

You’ll get a good grounding in the traditional, in M?ori visual culture and New Zealand history. We’ll then give you the creative and analytical skills to work on becoming an artist informed within M?ori kaupapa, but with your own identity. We work to help you become an artist with your feet in Aotearoa/New Zealand, but your eyes on the world.

Many of our graduates have gone on to national and international recognition for their work.

You don’t have to be M?ori to do the BMVA – we’ve had people of Samoan and European heritage and distance learners from North America and Brazil. But you do need to be committed to learning about and understanding customary M?ori art practice, culture, tikanga and language.

At Massey we want to push the boundaries, but also create a support network for you – a wh?nau/family that works together to understand M?ori culture, and themselves, and then take that understanding out to the world.

Equal importance is placed in this course on learning about new media. For instance the course has film, web design and other new media components.

As well as becoming an artist, our programmes opens doors to working in public galleries, museums or dealer galleries, taking your skills to help curation, collection and interpretation.

Other career options include teaching M?ori art at secondary or tertiary levels or work in iwi or M?ori cultural development.

You can also choose elective papers to broaden your career options – for instance media studies, history, M?ori studies and social anthropology.